Florida Primary

Florida Primary, Mitt Romney may have won a blowout victory in Florida’s presidential primary, but Newt Gingrich is not about to concede defeat.

Sounding as though he had already wrapped up the nomination, Romney commended Gingrich and other rivals Tuesday night for a hard-fought effort and minimized any lasting damage to the party or his candidacy.

“A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win,” Romney told a flag-waving crowd at his Florida headquarters. “And when we gather back in Tampa seven months from now for our convention … ours will be a united party with a winning ticket for America.”

He devoted most of his remarks to assailing President Obama.

“Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses,” Romney said. “Mr. President, you were elected to lead, you chose to follow and now it’s time to get out of the way.”

For his part, Gingrich failed to offer Romney even the most perfunctory congratulations. Speaking to supporters in Orlando, he said the Florida result made clear “this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader Newt Gingrich and the Massachusetts moderate.”

Standing at a lectern with a sign reading “46 states to go,” Gingrich vowed: “We are going to contest every place and we are going to win and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August.”

The Romney landslide ended what had become a suspenseless campaign over the last few days and handed the former Massachusetts governor 50 convention delegates, the largest cache yet.